Almost Time to Shiver in the River!

A few days ago it was 65 degrees in Richmond. The following morning it was in the teens. This means two things: It’s Winter in Central Virginia, and it’s that much closer to Shiver in the River!

There was an amazing turnout for last year’s inaugural event. Over 400 showed up to Give 60 and perform cleanups on and around the James River. Over 150 raised the minimum of $75 to brave the cold and take a chilly James River Jump. And bravery it was! While the temperature last year was in the low 40’s, the James River was around 39 degrees. Bracing, to say the least!

(Just for reference – As we write this the James is 40.5 degrees.)

Things are looking great for this year’s Shiver in the River! We’ve found great partners in businesses and groups like Comcast, Richmond Family Magazine, Dominion, Collared Greens (who is selling a special Keep Virginia Beautiful shirt to benefit our mission!), HandsOn Greater Richmond, and soon-to-open Stone Brewing. They all share our love for Virginia and the desire to keep it beautiful. Contact Mike Baum if you want your name on that list.

This is also a Virginia Green Certified event! We’ll have multiple sites along the James and around Richmond for you to perform a cleanup. We’re going to have some great food trucks, tasty beverages, and live music! Truly Richmond’s Coolest Winter Festival!

We’ve also firmed up our route for the brand new 5K Walk/Run. You’ll start at Tredegar, loop around Brown’s Island, run along the James, cross to Belle Isle, and after seeing a sizable chunk of that, return to Tredegar for our finish line and Winter Festival site. If you’re unfamiliar with Richmond, this route gives you great views of our historic city, a fantastic slice of the James River Park System, and a bucket-load of Virginia’s best nature. Take a look at the route below.

What we need now are teams! As of today there are 46 teams signed up. We have almost 230 supporters who are raising money, and a ton of folks are donating, but the teams are the fun part. They have such names as “Norfolk Brrmaids,” “Shivers and Giggles,” and “Shrinkage and Drinkage.” And if last year is any indication, they will come with a theme, complete with costumes. There’s warmth in numbers and that sense of community, so heat your team up by registering now.

We would also love to see some more of you volunteer. There are opportunities pre-Shiver, during the event, and of course our own cleanup after the Shivering is done! We’ll take all the help we can get.

As of today we’re 17 days away from Shiver in the River! Register for the 5K Walk/Run. Do your cleanup. Take the James River Jump. Or do all three! At the very least come for the best Winter Festival in Richmond. It was a blast last year and is sure to be super cool this year.

See what we did there?